WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal judge has dismissed with
prejudice a civil damages suit a former Archer Daniels Midland
Corporation executive filed against an FBI agent who was his
primary contact in the government's antitrust investigation of
ADM, the Department of Justice announced today.

The action by Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal of U.S.
District Court in Springfield, Illinois, bars Mark E. Whitacre,
the executive, from ever again bringing the accusations against
Brian Shepard, a special agent in the FBI's Decatur, Illinois,
office. Bernthal signed the order February 2.

Whitacre, a high ranking executive of the giant agricultural
firm at the time of the investigation, was a cooperating witness
in the federal government's antitrust investigation of
allegations that ADM conspired with its competitors to fix the
prices of certain products it manufactured in violation of the
Sherman Act (USC 15, Sec.1). Shepard, the FBI's lead
investigator in the ADM case, worked closely with Whitacre during
the government's investigation of ADM from 1992 through 1995.

In his January 13, 1997, complaint, Whitacre, who covertly
taped for the government numerous conversations and meetings in
which the price-fixing scheme was discussed, accused Shepard of
various acts of misconduct in the investigation.

The Department of Justice, in filing a reply on behalf of
Shepard on July 28, 1997, that asked the court to substitute the
United States as a defendant, noted that at all times covered by
the complaint Shepard was acting within the scope of his official
duties as an FBI agent. The Department also sought the outright
dismissal of Whitacre's dubious claims against Shepard, asserting
that Whitacre's lawsuit failed to factually support his claim
that his constitutional rights had been violated.

At the same time, the Department, in replying to Whitacre's
claims under Illinois law, again asked the court to substitute
the United States as the defendant, saying Shepard was acting
within the scope of his federal employment.

Whitacre, who never responded to the Department's actions,
filed a motion January 29, 1998, seeking the voluntary dismissal
of his civil lawsuit with prejudice.